# Sailors Taking Women On Ships As Stowaways **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [February 25, 2010, 6:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sailors-taking-women-on-ships-as-stowaways/530423 "2010-02-25T18:46:04Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 5\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Quartz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quartz/32/267_2.png) [@Quartz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quartz)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2017, 10:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sailors-taking-women-on-ships-as-stowaways/530423/61 "2017-01-07T22:04:54Z")
> [@Markxxx](#): > > I have seen a couple of movies and TV shows where the woman escapes form prison (or something similar) and then runs down to the docks to pick up a sailor. The the sailor makes arangments for the woman to come on board with her Since the thread has been resurrected, I’ll point out that in the era of sailing ships it used to be commonplace for there to be a number of women aboard Royal Navy ships. Some were there legally as wives of particular officers and crew, and the captain and officers were expected to turn a Nelsonian blind eye to the others. Sample [cite](http://www.marinearchaeology.org/ShowALeg.htm). ---
**Author:** ![Raguleader](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/258eb7/32.png) [@Raguleader](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Raguleader)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2017, 5:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sailors-taking-women-on-ships-as-stowaways/530423/62 "2017-01-08T17:13:28Z")
Also, I’ve seen in a [couple of places](http://speccoll.library.arizona.edu/online-exhibits/exhibits/show/uss-arizona/service#top#top) that a woman by the name of Madeline Blair stowed away aboard USS _Arizona_ (the battleship unfortunately best known for the footage of it being destroyed in an explosion at Pearl Harbor on 7 December 1941) for about a month, from March to April of 1924. She was discovered when a chief petty officer overheard two of the crewmembers talking about her. Seems the crewmen who knew about her and were helping hide her in return to favors (I presume she was stitching up uniforms, helping them with their taxes, feeding their pets, and other assorted neighborly things). Several of the crew ended up doing prison time over the whole affair. ---
**Author:** ![Daylate](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/9dc877/32.png) [@Daylate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Daylate)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2017, 2:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sailors-taking-women-on-ships-as-stowaways/530423/63 "2017-01-09T02:57:54Z")
> [@](#): > > n fact, in the 19th century it wasn’t uncommon for the captains of some merchant vessels to have their wives and daughters aboard ship. Cite: “The Wreck of the Hesperus” by H. W. Longfellow ---
**Author:** ![si\_blakely](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d9b06d/32.png) [@si\_blakely](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/si_blakely)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2017, 12:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sailors-taking-women-on-ships-as-stowaways/530423/64 "2017-01-10T00:31:22Z")
> [@Quartz](#): > > Since the thread has been resurrected, I’ll point out that in the era of sailing ships it used to be commonplace for there to be a number of women aboard Royal Navy ships. Some were there legally as wives of particular officers and crew, and the captain and officers were expected to turn a Nelsonian blind eye to the others. > > Sample [cite](http://www.marinearchaeology.org/ShowALeg.htm). > [@Daylate](#): > > Cite: “The Wreck of the Hesperus” by H. W. Longfellow In 1801 [Matthew Flinders](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matthew_Flinders) was expressly refused permission to take his new wife on a journey to circumnavigate and map Australia. As a result, he did not see her for 9 years, after landing on a French territory and being held prisoner for nearly 7 years. ---
**Author:** ![furryman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/furryman/32/99_2.png) [@furryman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/furryman)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2017, 9:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sailors-taking-women-on-ships-as-stowaways/530423/65 "2017-01-10T21:48:53Z")
> [@Omar\_Little](#): > > I have yet to see a movie or a television show where a woman escapes from prison and becomes a stowaway on a ship. In fact I’ve only seen a few movies where female inmates escape from prison. Given the relative obscurity of this incident happening in media…I’m going to say it is a rarity in real life. > > Titles please. I’m curious. The TV movie version of The Girl, The Gold Watch and Everything had a bit of un PC karmic justice when the female villain gets thrown into a truck full of seamen. Later you see her merrily slipping on board ship wearing a crackerjack uniform. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sailors-taking-women-on-ships-as-stowaways/530423.md?page=3)